


Yosuke and Nanako Bake A Cake

by artikgato



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Yosuke and Nanako friendship, Yosuke wearing Souji's clothes, baking a cake, cavity inducing fluff, it's barely souyo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 21:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6094834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/pseuds/artikgato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a long process but, thankfully, under Yosuke's supervision neither the cake nor the Dojima residence caught on fire, and in the end they had two round, moist layers of cake, one chocolate and one vanilla. They worked together to ice the two layers together into one big cake.</p>
<p>"Can we draw a picture of my bear-rific self on the cake?" Teddie asked. Nanako giggled and Yosuke rolled his eyes with a groan.</p>
<p>"No. We're just writing "welcome back Souji" on the cake with the icing. Got it?" Yosuke chided.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yosuke and Nanako Bake A Cake

**Author's Note:**

> One day I set out to write the purest, most cavity-inducing fluff imaginable and I ended up writing a story where Yosuke helps Nanako bake a cake for Souji, and Teddie mostly gets in the way.

In the crazy, chaotic jumble that was Yosuke Hanamura's life, there were exactly two things that he knew to be absolute truths:

1) He would pretty much do anything for Souji Seta, and

2) It was impossible to say no to Nanako Dojima.

And so, he found himself somehow covered in flour, standing in the middle of the Dojima kitchen, and only the pleading face of Souji's dear, sweet little cousin was keeping him from strangling Teddie, because boy did he ever want to strangle Teddie.

"My hands slipped!" Teddie was protesting. He was also holding a mostly empty bag of flour, the contents of which were on the floor and, mostly, on Yosuke. Teddie himself was somehow completely untouched by the white powder, and even though he sounded sincere about it, there was this mischievous look on his face that said otherwise.

"Like _hell_ they did!" Yosuke all but shouted in response. Nanako managed to double her efforts, bottom lip pouting out, eyes somehow managing to look _bigger_ and _sadder_ , and-

"No fighting!"

He sighed.

"Okay, fine, just...go to Junes and get another bag, Teddie," he grumbled. "And use your own money!"

"But Yosukeeeeee," Teddie whined. Nanako turned to him.

"I think we had a little bit of money left over from what Dad gave me to buy the ingredients for the cake," she started, but Yosuke cut her off.

" _No_ ," he interrupted, with a glare. "Use your own money, Teddie. It's your fault in the first place."

"But my _popsicle fund_!" he protested. Yosuke just continued to glare until Teddie finally relented, slinking away toward the door with a whine that was one million percent faked. He sighed once Teddie was out the door, looking down at himself, which caused a layer of flour to fall out of his hair and onto the floor. He was going to _murder_ that bear, but first...

"Guess we'd better clean this up, huh?" he asked.

"I'll go get the broom!" Nanako replied. She sounded _far_ more cheerful than the situation warranted. Maybe she just appreciated the company? That thought only depressed Yosuke. He had really meant to come by and keep her company more often, they all had, but lately school, and in Teddie's case Junes, had kept everyone on the former Investigation Team busy. But now it was summer break, and Souji was coming to visit, so they would just have to make up for it by spending plenty of time with her now. With that thought, Yosuke started patting himself down, trying to dislodge as much of the flour as possible. Nanako returned with the broom and dust pan, and together they managed to sweep up most of the mess easily enough. Unfortunately there was still a fine layer of flour coating Yosuke that wasn't going away.

"We have a hose in the back yard by the garden," Nanako suggested. Yosuke made a face.

"Yeah, but then I'll have to stand around with wet clothes and hair," Yosuke replied, with a frown. Nanako frowned too, putting a finger to her mouth and thinking hard. It was such a _Souji_ thing to do that it almost made him laugh, but he managed to just turn it into clearing his throat instead. They were only cousins and had only spent a year together, but they were so much alike, it was really remarkable.

"I need to do laundry anyway," Nanako started, smiling cheerfully up at him. "So I can wash your clothes for you!"

"But what will I wear?" Yosuke asked.

"I think Big Bro left some of his clothes here, you could just borrow those!" she explained. Yosuke jumped a little and tried really hard not to let himself blush at the thought of wearing Souji's clothes. But really, what else could he do? He couldn't stand around in his underwear while they made Souji's 'welcome back' cake, and he wasn't going to borrow _Dojima's_ clothes...

The thought didn't occur to him until far, far too late that he could have just asked Teddie to stop by his house and pick up a change of clothes for him.

So ten minutes later he was standing in the upstairs bathroom with wet hair and wearing Souji's clothes. It was the outfit he'd seen Souji wear a lot during the summer, the simple white polo and brown pants. They were mostly the same height, so the clothes fit him...scarily well. It was also such a bizarre, incongruous look for him that he had to laugh. He tried not to think about the fact that the clothes smelled a little bit like Souji - of course they did, they were his clothes, but the fact that Yosuke had _noticed_ was...nonono, he _wasn't_ going to think about it.

Nanako was at the table watching TV when he came back downstairs. Without flour they had concluded that they weren't going to get much further on Operation Bake Souji A Welcome Back Cake (the name had been Teddie's idea).

Nanako was some kind of laundry wizard. She had _already_ washed his clothes, and apparently a bunch of towels too, and they were hanging on the line outside drying.

"It's really warm today, so your clothes should be dry in no time, Big Bro Yosuke!" Nanako smiled and greeted him.

"Awesome," he replied, returning her smile. "Thanks a lot, Nanako-chan!" He didn't comment on how stupidly happy he was that she called him 'big bro Yosuke' now. She had started doing that a little while ago. The first time he had been so touched by it that he had gotten choked up and had to excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

Teddie came back not long after that, fresh bag of flour in hand. Nanako intercepted him at the door and took the flour from him before he could even get his shoes off. Yosuke was both proud and impressed.

"Yosuke! What are you doing wearing Sensei's clothes?!" Teddie gasped, scandalized. Yosuke rolled his eyes and managed to not blush at the reminder.

"What did you _think_ I was gonna do? Stand around here covered in flour?" he replied. Teddie, predictably, pouted.

"No fair! I wanna wear Sensei's clothes too!" he whined.

"What? _Why_?" Yosuke demanded. Nanako giggled.

"Don't be silly, Teddie. You're too short, Big Bro's clothes wouldn't fit you at all!" she said. Teddie kept pouting, but seemed to be pacified by this.

With the flour in the _bowls_ instead of on Yosuke and the floor the cake-making went a lot more smoothly. Nanako measured everything and Teddie stirred the batter while Yosuke was overseeing the pre-heating of the oven. Yosuke had a feeling that was the real reason he was here, and even though it wasn't that big of a deal he still felt like he was important, somehow. Nanako certainly seemed to be having fun, directing Teddie to stir faster, or to make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all of the flour and sugar mixed up properly. Nanako poured the batter into the cake pans and Yosuke very carefully put them in the oven and set the timer, and then they got to work on making the icing.

It was a long process but, thankfully, under Yosuke's supervision neither the cake nor the Dojima residence caught on fire, and in the end they had two round, moist layers of cake, one chocolate and one vanilla. They worked together to ice the two layers together into one big cake.

"Can we draw a picture of my bear-rific self on the cake?" Teddie asked. Nanako giggled and Yosuke rolled his eyes with a groan.

"No. We're just writing "welcome back Souji" on the cake with the icing. Got it?" Yosuke chided.

"What about just a little one, in the corner?" Teddie insisted.

"I don't think we have enough icing, Teddie," Nanako pointed out. The little tube of blue icing they had gotten from Junes was, in fact, very little.

"What a tragedy," Teddie sighed. Even _Yosuke_ had to laugh at that. Nanako turned to him and held out the little tube of icing.

"Can you write it, Big Bro Yosuke? I'm not tall enough," she asked, sheepish. Yosuke grinned at her.

"Nah," he replied, and then without warning he bent over and scooped her up, lifting her up high enough that she could reach the surface of the cake with ease.

"I'm not a little kid!" she protested, even while laughing.

"Yeah, but you're still short!" Yosuke insisted. He held her steady and observed as she very carefully wrote 'welcome back' across the top of the cake. They both frowned when the icing ran out before she could even start on 'Souji'.

"Awww..." she sighed. Yosuke put her back down with a huff.

"Well, that's disappointing. But I guess that's what we get for buying the smallest pack of icing..." he complained. Teddie bounded over. He had his phone in his hand, which was a little weird, but Yosuke didn't have much time to think about that.

"I'll go get some more icing from Junes...but only if I get to draw my bear-utiful visage on the cake!" he suggested. Yosuke sighed and started to protest, but Nanako replied first.

"Sure!"

The two of them were practically _glowing_ at each-other. Yosuke just found himself shrugging instead. Where was the harm in it? Souji wouldn't care.

"Why don't we all go together?" Teddie asked.

"Sure, sure," Yosuke replied, seeing Nanako's eyes light up at the idea of making another trip to Junes. He would never understand her obsession with his workplace, but if going to Junes twice in one day made her happy, where was the harm?

On the way they ran into Chie, who was out walking her dog, judging by the fact that the massive canine was practically leading her around. It wasn't until she saw Yosuke and started laughing that Yosuke remembered that he was still wearing Souji's clothes.

"Yosuke, what are you _wearing_?" she asked, between cackles.

"It's not what you think!" he protested. He was not blushing, damn it. "Teddie spilled flour on me and I had to borrow these, that's all!"

"Flour? What are you three up to?" she asked. Nanako grinned.

"We're making a cake for Big Bro!" she explained.

"Oh?" she asked. She looked...mildly offended. "And you didn't invite me?"

"We didn't want the cake to be _poisonous_ , Chie," Yosuke retorted.

"Hey!" she protested. Nanako laughed. She huffed at him, but thankfully chose not to kick him. It was probably because Nanako was there, if Yosuke was being perfectly honest with himself.

"So are you going to get more flour, then?" she asked.

"No, we already finished the cake," Nanako explained. Chie looked a little crestfallen. Had she been hoping to help with the cake? Yosuke shuddered at the thought. "We ran out of icing."

"Well, sounds like an adventure," Chie replied. "I need to finish walking Muku. We'll probably be pretty busy, what with Souji being in town and all, so I'm getting all my chores out of the way."

"Teddie, that means you need to stop playing with the dog," Yosuke announced. Teddie, who had spent the _entire_ conversation happily petting an ecstatic looking Muku, pouted.

"Aww..." he protested.

"I wish I'd known you like dogs so much, Teddie. I might let you walk him sometimes!" Chie replied. Teddie _sparkled_ in response.

"Really?" Teddie started. Chie nodded, laughing. "Oh Chie-chan, are you finally starting to be seduced by my-"

"Aaaand we're leaving," she cut him off, giving him a flat look when he pouted at her. She tugged on the leash and Muku immediately rose to his feet and started to trot away in the opposite direction.

"See you later!" Nanako called after her.

"We're all meeting Souji at the train station tonight at 8, remember!" Yosuke said.

"Got it, got it," Chie replied. She went a few more steps, but then stopped. "Oh, wait a minute..."

Yosuke, who wasn't prepared for it, got completely blindsided when she whipped around, phone in hand, and got a picture of him.

"Chie, what the hell?!" he cried.

"Sorry, but you in Souji's clothes is _way_ too funny. I've gotta show Yukiko!" she replied.

"Don't you dare!" he protested.

"And I'm sure Souji will be very interested in seeing this later," she cackled, even as she let Muku tug her away. Yosuke tried not to feel too mortified. It wasn't like it was _his_ fault he was wearing Souji's clothes, right? It wasn't like Souji would get _mad_ or anything. If he'd been there he probably would have offered!

"I-I don't look _that_ weird, right?" he asked, turning back to his two companions. Nanako beamed up at him.

"They look good on you!" she insisted. Teddie snickered, his snicker turning into full-blown laughter when Yosuke directed a withering glare in his direction.

"Let's just go already. And we're making a detour by my house so I can change. I am _not_ going into Junes looking like this!" Yosuke huffed.

The rest of the trip was, thankfully, uneventful. Yosuke got to his house and got changed without anyone else spotting him in Souji's clothes. They got far more icing than was probably necessary, but it was better to have too much than not enough and have to make _another_ trip today. Teddie did, indeed, get to draw himself on the cake, a surprisingly accurate looking drawing of his bear form with red, blue and yellow icing. Nanako cheerfully added some flowers with the leftover icing, and by the time they finished it was time to start the long walk to the train station to meet Souji.

They were, predictably enough, not the first ones to arrive. The ever-punctual Naoto nodded and tipped her hat at them, and was almost immediately bowled over by Nanako when she ran up to hug the (slightly) taller girl.

"G-good to see you, Nanako-chan!" she wheezed.

"On time as always," Yosuke greeted.

"Nice to see you Nao-cakes!" Teddie chimed in. Naoto managed to look startled and offended at the same time.

" _Nao-cakes_?!" she demanded. Yosuke had to laugh at the look she was giving Teddie, who just looked offended right back at her.

"You don't like my nickname? But I worked so hard on it!" he protested.

"Do _not_ call me that," she insisted. The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of another of their group.

"Naoto-kun, Nanako-chan!" Rise called, as she all but ran up to meet them. She turned to grin over at him and Teddie. "Hey Teddie, Yosuke-sempai. Oh! You changed."

"Hey Rise...wait, what?" Yosuke asked.

"You were wearing Sempai's clothes earlier, right? I was hoping to get to see it in person," she explained. His jaw dropped.

"Wh...h-how did you...wait, did Chie send you that picture?!" he demanded. Rise blinked at him.

"Chie? No, no, it was Teddie," she corrected. Yosuke all but whipped around to glare at Teddie, who was now very intently studying the train tracks.

" _Teddie_ ," he started, murder in his voice.

"I wonder when Sensei's going to get here!" Teddie exclaimed.

"Teddie, when did you get a picture?" Yosuke asked, stalking over to loom over him.

"When you were making the cake for Sempai," Rise answered. Teddie turned completely away from him, whistling in completely faked innocence. "It's a really cute picture of you and Nanako-chan, want to see?"

Sensing that it was probably better not to murder the bear, not _yet_ anyway, Yosuke just sighed and turned back to Rise. She turned her phone around to show him the picture. It really was a good picture, from when he had picked up Nanako so that she could ice the cake. They were both happily smiling, Nanako concentrating hard on finishing the letter 'k' on the 'welcome back' message. Yosuke couldn't even be mad.

Well, actually, he could. He really, really could.

"Teddie, please tell me you didn't send this to Souji," Yosuke sighed, even as Rise beamed at him.

"Of course not! I didn't want to ruin the surprise of the cake!" Teddie replied. Yosuke raised a hand to rub at one of his temples.

"Okay, good. But who else did you send this to other than Rise?" he asked.

"Uh...everyone else?" the bear replied.

"And by 'everyone else' you mean?" Yosuke asked.

"Chie-chan, and Yukiko-chan, and Kanji! I would've sent it to Nao-cakes but I don't have her number," Teddie replied.

"I said not to call me that!" Naoto insisted. Yosuke turned to her.

"How opposed are you to using your police connections to help me _hide his body_?" he asked. Naoto looked thoughtful for a second, and Teddie laughed, uneasily.

"C-come on, guys, I'm just joking!" he replied. They both turned to glare at him. "Fine, I won't call you 'Nao-cakes' anymore. Just Nao-chan!"

"...I suppose that's as good as I'm going to get," Naoto sighed. Yosuke continued to glare at him.

"And you won't show Souji that picture, right?" he asked. Teddie looked appalled.

"Of _course_ I'm going to show Sensei this picture! It's such a cute picture of you and Nanako-chan!" he protested.

"Cute?!" Yosuke yelped.

"It really is, Yosuke-sempai," Rise replied. His stomach flipped. On the one hand, _Rise_ had just called him, or at least a picture of him helping Nanako, cute. On the _other_ hand, he was also wearing his best friend's clothes and, no, this was just...

“ _Delete it_ ,” he hissed. Teddie huffed.

“No way!” the bear refused.

“Delete it or I’m not letting you buy any more popsicles!” Yosuke replied.

“You can’t tell me what to do with my own money! I work beary hard at Junes to buy those popsicles!” Teddie protested. Yosuke scoffed.

“You just chat with all the housewives, you don’t _work_ ,” Yosuke replied.

“It’s not _my_ fault that all the lovely, lonely ladies of Inaba just can’t _bear_ my seductive wiles!” Teddie insisted. Rise snorted.

“More like, you’re _bear_ ly legal,” she joked. Yosuke groaned and Teddie high-fived her.

“What does that mean?” Nanako asked, and all three of them jumped.

“Rise-chan told me! It means I-” Teddie started, but Yosuke and Rise both quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Uh...never mind, Nanako-chan! We’ll tell you when you’re older!” Rise explained, her voice a little shrill with panic.

“Teddie, if you say one more word I’ll throw away the popsicles you have in the freezer,” Yosuke hissed. Teddie looked offended, but nodded. They removed their hands. Yosuke frowned. “And if you show Souji that picture I’m going to buy _all_ of the strawberry ones that Junes has and throw them away, too.”

“You wouldn’t _dare_!” Teddie gasped. Rise chuckled.

“That’s okay, Teddie. You don’t have to show Sempai the picture...I’ll do it!” she said, with a wink. Yosuke turned to her with a pout.

“Riiiiiseeeee,” he whined. She laughed again.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, it’s a really nice picture!” she protested.

“Can I see?” Nanako asked. Rise obliged, handing her the phone, and she squealed in response. “Oh wow, it really is a good picture, Big Bro Yosuke!”

“Actually, I’d like to see it too,” Naoto piped up, from the other side of the impromptu circle they had all formed. Nanako handed her the phone, ignoring the noise of protest that Yosuke made. She studied it, seriously, for a few seconds, before nodding and handing it back to Rise. “It is a good picture.”

“See! What’s the big deal, Yosuke?” Teddie asked. Everyone turned to look at him. Faced with all of them, Yosuke just sighed and relented.

“All right, fine, fine, I guess-” he started, but was interrupted by a shout from the entrance to the train station.

“Hey guys!” Chie shouted, announcing her arrival. Yukiko and Kanji were in tow. “Aww man, looks like he changed.” Yosuke just gave up and put his face in his hands with a sigh.

Yosuke spent the entire time sulking as they waited on the train to arrive. As it turned out, though, he didn’t have to sulk for long, because the train was actually ahead of schedule. In no time at all Souji stepped off of the train with a smile and wave, duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He promptly had to drop the duffel bag to intercept both Nanako and Teddie, who practically flung themselves at him. He managed to scoop up Nanako, who just laughed and hugged him around the shoulders, but he nearly overbalanced when Teddie just decided to cling to his other side with a cry of “Sensei I missed you _beary_ much!” Yosuke let him cling for a few seconds before heaving a sigh.

“All right Ted, come on,” he said, trying to pry Teddie off of Souji. Teddie resisted, and then Rise, who had evidently been trying to hold back, all but launched herself at Souji with a cry of “Sempai!”, and Yosuke was pulled into an awkward group hug as the rest followed her.

“I missed you all too,” Souji said, when they finally separated. Yosuke _finally_ managed to pry Teddie off of him, at which he looked very grateful. He turned to address Nanako, who was still clinging to his shoulders. “Nanako, I need to put you down so I can get my bag-”

“Gotcha covered, Sempai,” Kanji announced, already slinging the bag onto his back before he’d even started talking to Nanako.

“Thanks, Kanji,” Souji replied, grateful.

“Hey, that was really smooth,” Yosuke added, elbowing him lightly. Kanji just laughed. They started the long trek to the Dojima house in high spirits, chatting about all the goings-on in Inaba, asking Souji about the city, and groaning about school. In what seemed like no time at all they had arrived back at the Dojima residence, just as the last of the sunset was fading into night.

“Sensei, once you get inside you have to close your eyes, okay? We have a surprise for you!” Teddie announced, and Souji blinked over at him, bewildered.

“Um, should I be afraid?” he asked the rest of the group.

“Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous, Big Bro!” Nanako replied.

“Well, all right then,” he replied, stepping inside and dutifully closing his eyes after removing his shoes. He let Nanako lead him into the kitchen as the rest piled in behind them. Once everybody was crammed into the little kitchen, Nanako and Teddie exchanged a look and then both went, “Tada!”

“Oh, wow!” Souji said, studying the cake. He chuckled. “Well, I can certainly tell that Teddie helped you make this,” he added, addressing Nanako. He suddenly looked a little worried. “Um, who else helped you make this?”

“It was just me and Teddie and Big Bro Yosuke,” Nanako informed him, with a grin. “We got Big Bro Yosuke to help us with the oven.”

“Really?” Souji asked, throwing Yosuke an appreciative look.

“Uh huh! And he helped me with the icing, too!” Nanako continued.

“Is that right?” Souji asked, but he was still looking over at Yosuke with pride or...or maybe something like affection (but there was _no way_ it was affection, right? And if it was it was definitely the best friends kind of affection, totally).

“Yup!” Teddie piped up, drawing Souji’s attention away from Yosuke, who was starting to get flustered. He didn’t have time to be relieved, though. “I even have a picture, want to see?”

“Don’t you dare!” Yosuke cried, reaching out and grabbing the hand that Teddie was holding his phone in, in an attempt to wrestle the phone out of his hand. Giving the damn thing to Teddie was rapidly becoming his _worst mistake_.

“But Yosuke, you said-” Teddie started to protest.

“Here, Sempai,” Rise interrupted, handing Souji her phone. Yosuke and Teddie both froze, as Souji very intently studied the picture on her phone, a mix of surprise and delight on his face. Yosuke felt a curious mixture of hope and mortification. After what seemed like _millenia_ , Souji looked up at him.

“Yosuke, this is _adorable_ ,” he concluded. Yosuke felt his face go hot, letting go of Teddie to fold his arms and look away, furiously trying to control his blushing.

“Dude, shut up,” he grumbled.

“No, really!” Souji insisted. “But, um, why were you wearing my clothes?”

“I spilled a bag of flour on him, Sensei! I’m beary sorry!” Teddie explained, Yosuke frowned.

“Oh, well, it’s fine, Teddie. Don’t worry about it, I would have let him borrow them anyway,” Souji replied. Teddie looked mollified, and Souji grinned. Then, he added, “Can you send me that picture later?” Yosuke felt mildly horrified, and decided to that he needed some air. He ended up sitting on the back porch, leaning back and staring up at the starry sky, listening to the chatter inside the house. Eventually he heard footsteps approaching, and all of a sudden Souji was handing him a plate with a fork and a piece of cake on it.

“Thanks,” he said, accepting the cake. Souji sat down next to him.

“The cake is delicious, Yosuke. Thanks for helping make it,” Souji complimented. Yosuke shrugged.

“Nanako-chan and Teddie did most of the work. All I did was make sure it didn’t get burned,” he replied.

“And it didn’t,” Souji confirmed, taking a bite. Yosuke decided to take a bite too and, wow, it really _was_ good. “By the way, I wasn’t kidding earlier. That picture is adorable.”

“Yeah, well,” Yosuke grumbled, angrily taking another bite.

“And you know, my clothes look _really_ good on you,” Souji announced, just sounding totally nonchalant about it, and Yosuke nearly choked on the bite of cake.

“Dude!” he protested. Souji laughed.

“But seriously, Yosuke. Thank you for helping Nanako out. It really means a lot to me,” he continued. Yosuke nodded, and finally managed to return his smile.

“Sure thing, Partner,” he replied. With that, Souji turned back to his cake, and they ate in comfortable silence, listening to the rest of the group in the house chatting about everything they were going to do during summer break. Yosuke didn’t really care what they did - what mattered to him was that Souji was here with them. He was honestly happier at having Souji back with them, even for a short while, than he had been about anything in a long time. He knew this was probably skirting into more-than-just-friendly-feelings territory, but right now, in this moment, he didn’t care about that. He’d have to ask Teddie to send him a copy of the picture, too, because as awkward as it was, it was turning out to be a pretty good memory, all things considered.


End file.
